Author: Garth Donald

I was raised on a mixed grains and livestock farm South West of Portage la Prairie, Manitoba close to the small community called Edwin where I was heavily involved in our farm. I started farming at the age of 14 renting 160 acres from my uncle which I mainly grew sunflowers. I went to school in MacGregor, Manitoba where I receive my grade twelve diploma. After I graduated I work full time on our farm until the fall of 2004 when I got at job at McCain Foods Ltd. in Portage la Prairie where I was working in the stock room. I was in charge of receiving goods and entering them into inventory as well as assisting the maintenance, electrical staff in getting them the parts they need to keep the plant running. After working shift work for a year I realized that it wasnâ€™t my passion in life so I enrolled in the Agri Business program at Assiniboine Community College in Brandon, Manitoba. There I learned about agronomy, marketing and business. In between my first and second year I worked for Manitoba Pool Elevators at Petrel, Manitoba where I was in charge of many duties which included filling Anhydrous Ammonia tanks, blending fertilizer, equipment maintenance, soil sampling, field scouting, floating and mainly spraying. That year I sprayed 15,000 acres which isnâ€™t a lot for most standards but that area is largely in the production of potatoes which is very intensive. After returning back to college for the fall I knew that I wanted to be in Ag retail so upon my completion of my course I accepted a position as a field man with an independent company called Beiseker Agri Services. After 12 years of being with this company and a name change to DynAgra Corp. along the way I have held many titles within the company from field agronomist to Corporate Sales Manager. My new title is Western Canadian Manager of Agronomy and my role is to manage and sell our Variable Rate Technology program as well as our FlexiScout scouting program.

By Garth Donald, Dynagra As the world grows, the agricultural industry is asked to produce more to help feed the expanding population. The main issue growers face is that urban sprawl is eating up the productive farm land. We have less arable acres to work with as a result. Now our crop varieties are getting better for… Read More

As we put the final touches on this long season we are getting ready for next year already and canola seems to be near the top of most lists. So when looking for a canola variety what should be your main reason for growing a variety? Is it yield, harvest ability, disease resistance or maturity?… Read More

By Garth Donald, DynagraVRT Farmers look at many costs when they are making a crop plan. But the one thing I always hear from a lot of growers is that certified seed doesn€™t pay year after year. Coming from Manitoba to Alberta back in 1997 I wondered why there were not more seed growers and… Read More

By Garth Donald, CCA, DynAgraVRT Now that harvest is complete, growers need to start to shift their thoughts to fertilizer. There is a lot to consider with fertilizer in the fall. Whether it is pre-buying or fall applying the decision is very important. With most growers going to no-till, the practice of fall fertilizing has… Read More